EASY

[@nbenefiel]

When I was a kid my friend and I desperately wanted a real dolls house. We didn’t have a chance of getting the kind we wanted. So we decided to build one ourselves. We walked down to the the grocery store and brought back all the boxes we could carry. We papered the walls with old wallpaper samples. We made furniture out of anything we could find. We made dolls out of clothespins. We worked on it all fall and all winter. By spring we had 102 rooms. I don’t think we ever actually played with it but we did redecorate some of the rooms several times. It sat in our basement for quite a long time. Then my mom finally pitched it. We’d lost interest by then. Both of my daughters had lovely doll’s houses they played with for years but I think Susan and I had more fun.

[@queencityminis]

102 rooms! That's incredible. I made a cardboard dollhouse for Barbies as a kid. I wish I at least had a photo of it.

[@sharonkaysnowton]

Hi. I like to build my own Barbie doll houses from cardboard boxes and MDF. I like crafting my own Barbie doll houses because they are then OOAK, and no one else has a house like mine. Currently I am working on an Alice in Wonderland Cottage- the outside pays homage to architect Doug Aitken with his mirrored houses and the inside is Steampunk Alice in Wonderland in homage to Johnny Depp's Tarrant Hightop (aka The Mad Hatter). It is turning out beautifully. I cannot decide if I want to chrome the roof or thatch the roof???? Also, do I want stain glass windows in it?? I made a lot of the furniture with clocks, cog wheels, screws, metals and rustic wood. This is my latest house- I have been collecting for about 45 years and crafting for about 45 years. Currently, I have 12 Barbie houses- 3 that I purchased (the Barbie A-frame, the Barbie house with the garage and the Victorian Barbie house) and 9 that I made. Each is totally different. My largest is my Sept-Tours Castle made completely of cardboard boxes. I was watching "A Discovery of Witches" and was inspired by Phillippe's library and the great room. From there I just built the Sept-Tours Castle. It turned out beautifully. My Alice In Wonderland Cottage is beautiful, just little things like the roof, the windows, and my walkway. Once I figure out what I want those to look like, it will be complete. Your rooms are 1:12 size. Mine are 1:6 size. Keep having fun and enjoying making your dollhouses. Be blessed.

[@queencityminis]

Wow! 12 Barbie scale dollhouses must take up so much room. What a fantastic collection. A chrome roof sounds really cool me.

[@lilacmollymoo]

I'm new to the dollshouse world, I love and am amazed at your work and creativity ❤ Love the forced perspective box but the maths hurt my head a bit 😂 When I was a kid, many years ago my parents couldn't afford the kind of dollshouse I'd dreamt of so I'd make little dioramas (I didn't know that's what they were called then) out of match boxes and people from the matches, I'd stick them together with chewing gum 😂 I was very young. A few years later in my pre teens I'd make grocery stores out of cardboard boxes for my Barbie dolls, I'd use anything I could find along with plasticine and colouring pens - thank you for your amazing videos, you've helped reawaken the creative child in me again ❤❤

[@queencityminis]

Thank you so much! I did this forced perspective without math bc I hate measuring 😆

[@rhifunke6664]

WOW! You’re a genius. Seriously, I would have never thought about doing this. Thanks for the inspiration 💜

[@queencityminis]

Thank you! What a nice thing to say. I hope you make one of your own.

[@JaniceSharp-i1i]

What a great idea! I like seeing how your mind works; you're so clever. Can't wait to see how the project turns out!

[@queencityminis]

kzbin.info/aero/PLpru-lV_CsKT1-_q0WjqWlgc2Eo0rxCy2&si=DQOOdLpsfENPPvql Here's the playlist! This project is complete.

[@PropDadProductions]

Super Fantastic. I love that you are doing a forced perspective model. Good job explaining everything in easy to follow details. There are so many tutorials on how to draw 1 - 2 - 3 - point perspective. Please do more like this on forced perspective shadow boxes and how to construct them.

[@queencityminis]

You're welcome! I'll definitely make more room boxes in the future. I'll learn more about forced perspective.

[@joycefuller9177]

Great video.

[@queencityminis]

Thanks!

[@CassandrajustCassandra]

What a super idea. Especially for those of us who haven't jumped into the dollhouse arena. Forced perspective is so fun, can't wait to see what you do with it. That little 1:144 scale has my mind so blown, that you work that small! A little rustic dining area would be cute if you want to stay kitchen themed. If I could do it myself I would love to do the "Ladies lounge" area of a bedroom. :)

[@queencityminis]

Thank you :) I'm really happy with how it turned out. Plus, you could play with the depth and the angles since it's a free material. I initially made the 1:144 version just to show clearly what I was doing when adding the outer frame but it is way too cute not to decorate. It also only took a couple mins to make so I may have to make more. I want to do a Halloween themed one and probably a library/study filled with tiny books.

[@pegeen6634]

How about booze❗️

[@marlenejones6266]

​@@queencityminisoh golly I love making mini books. A whole library of them would be amazing and so much fun. Searching for papers for the covers would be more fun. Wow

[@nessiemonstercrafts]

What a great way to demonstrate making a forced perspective box, it was something I hadn't even considered before but now I'm going to have to watch the rest of the series to see how you decorate it. I really appreciate tutorials that challenge the way I would normally do things like this!

[@queencityminis]

Thank you! Check out the playlist. I love how this is coming along. I still have one more video to complete this project. I need to make the food and decorate the top of the stove.

[@nessiemonstercrafts]

@@queencityminis Oh wonderful! I'm really looking forward to it!

[@queencityminis]

@@nessiemonstercrafts It'll be fun to wrap this project up and start a new cardboard room box. I can't believe how much fits in such a shallow space. It's a good time.

[@kathykeith2203]

Omg!!! They both look awesome!!!!❤❤❤

[@queencityminis]

Thank you 😊

[@kathykeith2203]

@@queencityminis you are very welcome!!❤️❤️❤️

[@susannemirkovic3353]

simply love your tutorials

[@queencityminis]

Thanks so much 😊

[@loryz116]

wow, how great is this! Adorable!

[@queencityminis]

Thank you! 😊

[@littlegretchensworkshop7665]

I LOVE THIS!!! I REALLY LOVE OPTICAL ILLUSIONS, I feel that they go well with Miniatures!!!

[@queencityminis]

Thank you! I'm so excited to share the progress I'm making on my little kitchen scene.

[@heathermartinez8640]

This is really cool! For the 1:144 scale room box, I could see a chase lounge chair and a stack of books and a lamp. I put a chase lounge chair in my 1:144 house to serve as a bench to a dining table.

[@queencityminis]

That's a really cute idea! Thank you

[@amandajones6481]

I LOVE this beautiful room in a box, especially the way you created the optical illusion of the room looking bigger than it really is. That's so clever. I'm making a Christmas Shadow Box at the moment and I wish I'd seen your box before I made mine. But next Christmas I'll definitely make a box like yours. You're very talented. Thank you for sharing this great video tutorial with us. Merry Christmas, love from Amanda Jones in Australia

[@queencityminis]

Thank you Amanda! I'll definitely make another cardboard room box in the future. This was so much fun. I'll have to choose a new theme.

[@hectorrosario904]

Your voice is so relaxing ❤

[@queencityminis]

Thank you 😊

[@debbralehrman5957]

What a cool idea. Thanks for sharing this. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 🎁🕯🌟🕯🎁

[@queencityminis]

You are so welcome!

[@maneeratromtrairat174]

I think it was perfect square .thanks for the idea .

[@queencityminis]

You're welcome :)

[@risacrawford3775]

This is so cool! I have to give it a try. Thank you so much

[@queencityminis]

Please do! It's such a cool project from free material

[@Cleansweep38]

Mini Shadow Box: I recently watched a video where the lady took the outer non stapled area of canvas off the frame. The covered frame looked like a picture frame, so she stained and painted it to look like a weathered brown. She then took some white tissue paper and crumpled it up lightly and just added highlights of a water colored lavender color across it. She first attached the tissue paper to the staples side of the frame, cutting off excess, and then reattached the canvas to the stapled side (opposite side of where it came from) and making sure it is also reenforcing the tissue paper. She found about a 6” diameter tin bottle cap and hot glued that to the center of the inside of the shadow box. She had some dried out pieces of a tiny lilac colored flower and glued them (tops sticking slightly out of the top of bottle cap) Then glued a gem over the top of the top of the base of the flowers. She made a ribbon bow and glued that under the gem. How about something like that?

[@queencityminis]

That sounds beautiful! What a cool idea. Go figure I just donated my canvases to Goodwill. I haven't painted since I started my miniature hobby.

[@Cleansweep38]

@@queencityminis : I actually meant turning your mini mini shadow box into something like that.

[@marlenejones6266]

Could i take my 3 inch deep cardboard box apart to give it the angle you have shown? Its a very sturdy box. Im just thrilled with how much larger it looks by angling the sides and top n bottom

[@queencityminis]

Rather than dismantling the box, I'd cut four pieces add to the inside of the box. I started this build by creating and outer box. Since you already have an outer box, cut the pieces to make up the sides, top and bottom.

[@tinykeyholeminis]

This is so weird bc I was just thinking how I should make one! Im doing a project for my daughter..thanx for sharing🥰

[@queencityminis]

That's awesome! Great timing ;)

[@recoveringsoul755]

Great idea, and I like how you reinforced the sides to be square (to complete the illusion, and make them stackable). Not sure how many miniatures you could display in there, but you could maybe put a picture frame in front with glass to protect the contents. Or just leave it open, hang on a wall. And you can use the space above the ceiling to hide a battery pack for lights and run wires around sides and ceiling to hide them before outer walls go on. How big would you make a regular room box, like ceiling height, width and depth? The dollhouse I have doesn't even have 8 foot ceilings, and you can really tell because the space between the top of the door and the ceiling isn't the right gap. Ok I just measured and it is pretty close to 8 inches. Maybe I've been living with 9 foot ceilings too long? Maybe the door isn't standard size? I need to measure stuff for standard sizes and make a spreadsheet to reference them. And architectural terms. I just measured a box from a case of Ramen noodles, and it's 4 inches deep, about 15 inches wide, and approximately 9.5 inches tall. Took it over to my dollhouse and it's almost as wide as the house. Wow. YOU could probably continue the illusion with wainscotting, but I think most of us will be relegated to using plain colors of wallpaper, maybe a chair rail. Even a floral pattern won't get tinier towards the rear.

[@queencityminis]

That's a good idea about hiding wiring before attaching the outside walls. I'm putting the stove in the space plus a butter churn, wall shelves, probably a chair and some random clutter. I want to make it a pretty crowded old timey kitchen. It sounds like you could reinforce that Ramen box and make it into a room box.

[@recoveringsoul755]

@@queencityminis I have cardboard from pizza box lids, 6 of them, for reinforcement. Plus cereal boxes. I could even build in a window area, with a window in it and an image outside with lighting to seem like daytime. You could use these for a front door scene too from the outside, like Halloween or Christmas. What have you done to my brain? It's just a box. Just a box...

[@ghoulgoil5029]

Genius! The empty box looks square. Not till it’s decorated can you see the tapered walls. You should put the little box in the the room as a shadow box with flowers or mini scene of the scene!

[@queencityminis]

I thought of that but I want it to be a humble, rustic kitchen from the late 1800s. It wouldn't quite fit. I was also thinking of making it Halloween themed in some way.

[@ghoulgoil5029]

@@queencityminis HALLOWEEN! YESSSSS!

[@tamaracummings5456]

I love this stuff 💗 You are so talented! How about "The Sea World"? Not cartoon. Realist..

[@queencityminis]

That's a really interesting idea! Thank you

[@Beachy1955]

Use perfume set boxes as they are usually quite strong. I have several saved just waiting for inspiration.

[@queencityminis]

How big are they? I've never even seen one. I have used a cellphone box to make a miniature. They're very strong. I made a wardrobe closet.

[@Beachy1955]

@@queencityminis big enough for a full sized room box. 8x11 and 4 1/2 inches deep

[@fancifuldevices]

This is so freaking clever! And you made a mini model of it!😭😭🥹

[@queencityminis]

I know! The mini model took literally 2 minutes to make and it's cute as can be.

[@fancifuldevices]

@@queencityminis it’s like you can’t help yourself you have to miniaturize!